Chop-grader



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l(No Modelg) J. R; DAVIS, Jr'.

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No. s8o,o96 Patente-1 Mar. 27,718.88.

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J. R.. DAT/'18.1 Jr'.

CHOP GRADER.

No. 880,098. Patented Mar. 27. 1888.

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CHOP GRADBR. m3801096.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. ik

JOHN n. DAvIs, Jn., on NEENAmwIsooNsIN.

CHoP-GRA'DER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,096, datedv March l27, 1888. v

l Application tiled February 8, 1881. Serial No. 25,727. (No model.) y

To all whom it may concern..- y

Be it known that I, JOHN It. DAvIs, J r., of Neenah, in the county of Winnebago and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Chop Graders, of which the following is a specication.

Chop or meal as it comes from the reducing apparatus is generally carried to bolting-reels, which take out the our and send the middlings and impurities on to the purifier. In passing through these reels the material is repeatedly tumbled together and against the sides of the reel, and as a consequence a large amount of dust is worn from the particles, both from the good and from the impure and is mixed together, passing into the flourA and middlings and lowering their standard. In order to overcome this objection and obtain a greater per cent. of puriiied middlings anda better grade of break flour, I have heretofore proposed to subject chop or meal to air-blasts as it comes from Y the reducing mechanism, whereby the flour is separated from the middlings and carried to the bolts, while the middlings go direct to the purifier, and have made application for Letters Patent for this process and for a machine by which it may be carried into effect.

My present invention is designed to furnish an improved machine adapted to separating, grading, and purifying according to said process, while at the same time' capable of use in other grading and vpurifying operations; and it consists in arrangements of mechanism whereby air-currents of controllablelintensity may be drawn transversely through the material falling upon the screen and transversely through the material 'falling into the chest, and in combinations and details of4 construction hereinafter described and claimed. In its preferable form I combine with 'the other instrumentalities of this-machine a set or sets of reducing rolls-.'such, for instance, as ther Stevens roller-mill so arranged as to discharge the chop at vthe head; butit will be understood that these rolls ymay be replaced by a hopper, and that the chop maybe received from reducing mechanism of any appropriate form and system and located 'at any desirable distance. f'

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a machine embodying my invention.

asin the Stevens mill now well known in the market. v n

The mechanism for separating and grading the chop is contained within a casing, F,which fits snugly between the legs of the mill-frame and against the bearing-sills a, to the webs of which it may be bolted. A screen,G, covered with graded`wire or silk clothisfarranged withinJ this casing, as shown, so as to practically bisect its chamber. 'This screen may be reciprocated forward and backward like ay shaker,"or canbershaken sidewise at right angles to the courseof vthe material thereon,.or canV bel fixed in the cases'o as tobe stationary.

In the present construction I have shown the screen as stationary,which I deem preferable. l When so arranged, it will-be set at a sufficient angle or incline to cause the chop falling upon itsl head' to gravitate over the length until it reaches the tail. In order to clear the meshes, should there be 'a tendency to clog,a hammer or hammers, b, may be employed pivoted-to theframe-work,and each Voperated by a tappet or cam, c, on a driven shaft, c', to strike at regular intervalsagainst;

the tail-piece of the screen. The blows (,)fvtli'eii hammers will also tend to feed the material forward from' the head, and therefore, when they are employed, the slope of the screen may be lessened, if desired- The flaring compartment H, formed by the incased portion 'betweenthe screen and thel -rolls,"is'open tothe'eXternalair at its outer or vlarger end, and at itsinnerrend,'at the rear of. the machine'just beyond the head Vof the screen, connects,by`means of a throat, `il,""a.nd

adjustable gatedw'ith a yvertical air-trunk, I, leading to the suction-chamber I at the foot of the machine. As the `chop falls fromlthe rolls, it strikes in succession the inner inclined faces of a series of horizontal slats, e, theupper- IOO most of which lies partly beneath the outer roll,

yand is by them vconductedto the head of the screen. The slats in the aggregate kform a par# tition in the compartment H, dividing .oi a sub-compartment, h, through which the chop passes, as above stated, to reach the screen, and which may be termed the chop-chamber. The spaces between the slats form airports, one above the other, through which currents of air traversing the stream of chop may be induced by the fan or fans K, mounted in a suitable casing in the suction-chamber and discharging into the dust-room.

Each air-port is provided with an adjustable gate, f, whereby the currents may be cnt oi or modiiied at any point in the height of the partition, and it will be understood that by means of the gate d in the throat d they may be moderated as a whole, or entirely stopped at any time. Bythis arrangement the flour and ne dust may be separated from the chop in its fall, leaving only middlings and a modicum of impurities to pass over the screen and be separated into grades.

Beneath the screen is a chest, H,subdivided at its bottom into two or more pockets, hh,each with its appropriate duct or spout. A gate or gates, g, as usual in similar chests, permits the receiving-area of these pockets to be varied at will, in order to modify the character of the grades deposited therein. At its outer end, beneath the tail of the screen, the chest communicates with the external air by means of air-ports i, formed by a series of horizontal slats,the innerfaces of which are advisably inclined to guard the falling material from escape. These air-ports, llike those in the partition above the screen,are each provided with A adjustable gates 13', whereby air-currents drawn through them may be moderated or cut oil' at any point in their height. At its inner end the chest H communicates through the throat k with the suction-chamber I. An adjustable gate, k', serves to limit the size of the throat, or close it altogether, and thereby moderate or shut oi the draft through the chest.

An inclined board, l, beneath the head of the screen, serves to direct material deflected over said head by the upper air-currents, or, passing through the rst meshes,into the chest H,and also to cut olf the lower draft from the chop-chamber. A diaphragm, fm, above the screen forms a floor to the main upper compartment,H,and shuts off the air-current passing therethrough from the current or currents through the chest H. This diaphragm may be a board, which I prefer shall be removable to permit the draft at any time to be turned downward through the screen into the chest,or upward through the screen into the compartment H', by closing or narrowing one throat or the other; or it may be a Venetian blind, by which a similar result would be accomplished, or a belt, such as hereinafter described.

At the tail the screen may discharge into an ordinary spout, n; but in order to submit the tailings themselves to the action of air-currents to remove any remaining particles of dust or ne impurities and to grade them according to their weight, Ibifurcate this spout and cause it to discharge on either side of the machine past'an air-port into a chamber, p, which communicates through a trunk, p', with the suction-chamber. A series of sub-spouts, q, are arranged in the tailingschamber, between-the air-port and air-trunk below the line of draft, to receive the tailings graded by the aircur rent; and gates q are provided between each sub-spout, whereby the number of grades may be determined. The intensity of the draft through the tailings chamber may be controlled by means of a gate, o', placed over the air'port o, and another gate, p?, may be provided in the trunk p', whereby the draft may be cut o altogether.

For the sake of compactness of build the sides of the chest H are caused to converge slightly, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to afford space at the bottom of the machine for the trunk p to be laid between them and the vertical side walls of the casing. Air may gain access to the ports of the chest H through openings rin the sides of the machine, or from beneath the spout, or from both sources, according to the exigencies of the structure.

In case a shaker is used in place of the sta.- tionary screen shown, it will be placed at the usual angle given to shakers in purifying-machines, and the outlines of the chamberH and chest H will be correspondingly modified; but the arrangement and action of the mechanism will not be essentially changed. The camshaft c will afford convenient means for driving the shaker.

When it is desired to use a beater or disintegrator upon the chop as it falls from the rolls or from whatever delivery mechanism may be employed, I find it convenient to adopt the arrangement shown in Fig. 4, placing the upper serial air ports and gates, e f at the outer end of compartment H, so as to turn the Whole compartment into the chop-chamber, and substituting a slatted belt, S, the width of the compartment, and driven, as indicated by the arrow, for the board m.

The beater N, which may be a stationary or revolving cage, as described in my application hereinbefore referred to, or of any other suitable construction, will be placed about centrally above the belt in the path of the stream of chop as it enters the chop-chamber, so as to strike it, lighten it up, and scatter it through said chamber, exposing it to the full strength of the air-currents by which the flour and dust will be taken out.

The middlings as they settle upon the belt will be carried up and deposited upon the head of the screen or shaker over which they will travel, as in the first-described construction, being shut off from the drafts by the lower face of the be1t,which performs the same function in this respect as the board which it supplants.

'Ihe chop-grader proper, asIhave described it, being inclosed in a square case fitting into the ordinary frame-work of the roller-mill, is adapted to be removed integrally therefrom ICO IIC

andused independent thereof with a hopper or other device for delivering chop, while the mill can be turned to other reductions.

I claim as my inventionl. The combinatiomwith the screen and the converging chest and windtrunk=beneath, of the bifurcated spout, the tailings chambers and their external air-ports, the series of subspouts, and the trunks laid under the convergro ing sides of the chest and communicating with the suction-chamber. l

2. The combination of the crushing-rollers, the inclined screen, the diaphragm above said screen, the chest andwind-trunk beneath the screen, the fan exhausting from said chest, and r 5 the bifurcated tailings-spout and its series of sub-spouts, also exhausted by saidfan.

3. The combination of the crushing-rollers, A the rotary beater, the inclined apron beneath said beater, the inclined screen beneath the 2o apron, the chest and Wind-trunk beneath `the screen, the suction-fan, and the tailings-spout.

JOHN R. DAVIS, JR;

Witnesses: y

' ALEX. McNAUGH'roN,

JOHN SHIELLs. 

